EOU moves to No. 2

By Dick Mason
The La Grande Observer

Published: June 16, 2004

Eastern Oregon University continues to climb the national charts.

EOU has jumped from sixth to second in Consumers Digest's national rankings.

The reason: the list in the May/June issue of Consumers Digest best bargains in college education has been found to be erroneous. That list, which appeared in the June 11 edition of The Observer, ranked Eastern as the sixth best bargain in the nation.

Since that issue of Consumers Digest came out, however, the magazine's editors discovered a mistake in its computer-generated rankings. After the software was adjusted, a virtually all-new top 10 list has emerged.

Eastern has jumped to second as the only carryover on the new list.

"It (the ranking) is a huge honor. It is something that all of Eastern Oregon should be proud of,'' EOU President Khosrow Fatemi said.

When rating universities, Consumers Digest considers such factors as:

. Tuition and room and board.

. The quality of first-year freshmen based on their grade point averages and standardized test scores.

. The university's level of academic excellence. This is determined by the number of faculty members who have doctorates, student graduation rates and the student-to-faculty ratio.

Consumers Digest prepared lists for private and public universities. When considering tuition for public schools, the magazine took into account only tuition for out-of-state students, because residents are usually charged less.

This helped EOU's ranking since it does not charge out-of-state-tuition. The average undergraduate at Eastern pays $1,613 a term for tuition and fees.

Following is the revised list of Consumers Digest top-value public colleges and universities:

1, Florida International University, Miami ($8,151 for annual tuition and room and board).

2, Eastern Oregon University, La Grande ($10,080)

3, California Polytechnic State, San Luis Obispo, Calif. ($12,628)

4, North Dakota State University, Fargo, N.D. ($12,531)

5, North Georgia College and State University, Dahlonega, Ga. ($12,640)

6, Utah State University, Logan, Utah ($12,876)

7, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Fla. ($13,528)

8, Truman State University, Kirksville, Mo. ($13,528)

9, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Utah ($13,558)

10, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss. ($14,026)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact Information

University Advancement Eastern Oregon University One University Boulevard La Grande, OR 97850 phone 541.962.3740 fax 541.962.3680 email University Advancement